Help and "Toggle metadata" is unreliable if the select button is also the controller hotkey

[busywait]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• This is a bug in RetroArch frontend
• I have searched the existing issues

Description

When using my steamdeck controller buttons to navigate the retroarch ui the "Select" button does not work reliably to display "Help" in the settings pages, or to "Toggle metadata" in playlists.

By default this button is my controller hotkey. If I select a different hotkey then the select button works reliably in the retroarch UI.

Expected behavior

I expect the button to work reliably in each context for displaying option help or opening the stated UI.

Steps to reproduce the bug

• Open retroarch
• Use the controller to sellect the Main Menu > Load Core option
• Press the "Select" button for "Help"

Or

• Configure primary and secondary thumbnails to display in playlists
• Navigate to a playlist entry that has two thumbnails
• Press the "Select" controller button to replace the secondary thumbnail with the rom metadata

Usually nothing happens if I press the button once. If I press the controller button [very rapidly or once very quickly] sometimes the selected function does work.

Version/Commit

1.22.0 eb75997

Bisect Results

This worked correctly in the previous flatpak 1.21

Present in the nightly version

I don't know

Platform & operating system

SteamOS 3.7.17

Affected Cores

not applicable

Environment information

SteamDeck LCD in Game mode or Desktop mode

Relevant log output

[sonninnos]

Certain buttons in menu are triggered on release to prevent duplicate actions, so the solution here is to increase the "Hotkey Enable Delay" value so that release is not ignored.

Not sure if there is anything more to be done really. since the delay value can't simply be ignored while in menu due to all button combo possibilites, such as having menu toggle and hotkey on the same button: #18202

[busywait]

Thank you - I'm talking about navigating the RA menus with no core or content loaded, and I've experienced this as a behavior change from RA1.21 to RA 1.22.

I don't remember there being any hotkeys available in the RA menus in 1.21 on my Steam Deck, and on my Switch there are none in RA 1.21, so the Input > Hotkeys > Hotkey Enable Delay period was/is not relevant.

[I've also just tested this on RA 1.21 om Linux x64, and the hotkey is not effective in the RA menu]

Now in RA 1.22 the hotkeys are enabled [in the RA menu] (though mostly irrelevant), and my select button is being interpretted as a hotkey enable.

Now you have explained the behavior I can press it very quickly to get help or toggle metadata, but it is still not working to bring up the manage playlist page.

[sonninnos]

Manage playlist is in Start.

[busywait]

Could the Hotkey Enable Delay only be used in the RA menus if the Hotkey Enable button has actually been "dupe bound"? This would preserve the previous behaviour for people that don't use the new option.

I have read the original feature request #18202 and understand that the change is to optionally allow a single press of the hotkey enabler to open the RA menu by defining the same button as both the hotkey enabler and as the toggle menu hotkey. This has required that the Hotkey Enable Delay setting (default 5 frames, 80mS) is now effective in the RA menus when previously it was only relevant in the running content.

I can work around this, or even make it useful, but it was hard to understand what was happening. Also people with only simpler controllers (SNES style) will be limited in which buttons make sense as hotkey enablers.

[busywait]

Manage playlist is in Start.

Thanks, yes, and this is nothing to do with Manage Playslists - that can be actioned from the Start button not the Select button. I've edited out anything to do with Manage Playlists from text above.

[busywait]

Could the Hotkey Enable Delay only be used in the RA menus if the Hotkey Enable button has actually been "dupe bound"? This would preserve the previous behaviour for people that don't use the new option.

And additionally, should RA exclude certain buttons from being dupe/double bound? Anything that is used for a direct function in the RA menu (Select, Start, A, B, D-pad, ...) should not be available for dupe binding?

[sonninnos]

All RetroPad buttons are used in menu, so all buttons are "dupe bound" (except Guide/Home/whatever of course), and wherever the enabler is you certainly do not want to trigger the underlying button when using the enabler, and most likely you also want to be able to use that button itself when not pressing hotkeys, and have the behavior as consistent as possible regardless of menu being active.

[busywait]

Could the hotkey enable button release event get passed to the menu if no actual hotkey was also pressed?